14 comments

  1. Same here. Been wanting to get a western style rig with revolver and lever rifle that shoot the same cartridges. Ideally, a Colt 45 and a Winchester (94?). But, I’m just a poor white sharecroppers chow so it’ll most likely be less expensive brands. That Cimmaron sure is purty.

    1. Uberti does a pretty nice SAA clone in the same price range. I went for .38/.357 because I have reloading dies and about 5K rounds in stock and I really didn’t want to introduce another caliber into the collection. I also picked up a 16″ Rossi Model 92 with the John Wayne lever in the same caliber. The carbine isn’t a high end gun but it shoots well and is lots of fun. If I lived in a communist country like New Jersey it might live under my bed loaded with the old 158gr FBI load.

  2. Ah, come on over to the Dark Side, you’ll need a pair, a decent side by side coach gun (or an 1897) and a nice levergun. Then of course you are a now a legitimate sporting shooter – Cowboy of course.

    A silly sport, but great fun. I shoot in 44/40, the 3rd Manly Calibre ™ (the others being 45LC and 45ACP). 44/40 is period authentic to the peacemakers, but alas you can no longer fit a whole 40 grains of black powder in the cases (bah, modern safety cases, only hold about 35 grains)

    Full house black powder is fun, Booom, foot of flame and loads of white smoke, what’s not to like?

    In any case, those Uberti Cattlemen – for that be what Cimarron are selling, are very fine handguns, yes the case hardening is just a colour finish, and the new ones have transfer bar safeties (pschaw!) but they are good in the hand, and improve with shooting. Bits do break eventually (Springs, and I have broken a reloading rod) but parts are easy to come by, and it takes thousands of rounds to do so.

  3. I can’t believe its Cheaper Than Dirt with that price, given what I know about their pricing policies! If it’s in stock you HAVE to have it! I bought a Cimarron Model P in the old frame in charcoal blue and it’s simply gorgeous!

    One thing I just thought of; didn’t Uberti recently change their SAAs to include a hammer block,thus undoing the ubiquitous four-click hammer? They may have even taken the firing pin OFF the hammer ala Ruger! (shudders at the thought!)

  4. Bought mine in 2005. It has a 5-1/2 inch barrel, is in caliber 44-40, and does not have the medallion in the grip. The wood is gorgeous. I shoot my own cast boolits and handloads.

    I had to send it back. Twice. What a goat rope. Short version is that the barrel on mine was made from 44-40 rifle barrel stock, so the twist was 1 in 36. Bullet holes in target not round. So yeah, after two tries, they finally got it right, and it shoots right to point of aim.

    A few other incidents convinced me that there QC was hit and miss back then. Hopefully it is better now.

    1. A few further notes. The “safety” on my above mentioned Cimarron is the cylinder base pin. To engage it, loosen the base pin screw and shove the pin to the rear most position. It then protrudes out the rear of the frame underneath the hammer face just enough to prevent firing. Don’t forget to tighten the screw.

      I also have a Navy Arms Remington 1875 in 44-40. Bought it new in ’79 at the (gasp!) San Francisco Gun Exchange. I have to load separate ammo for each revolver. Bullets are 200 gr. from an RCBS mould. The Colt cylinder is longer than the Remington. For the Colt, I can use the crimp grove in the bullet just fine. Loading one of those rounds in the Remington, it chambers just fine, but the bullet tip sticks out the front of the cylinder.

      For the Remington, I have to seat the crimp grove down in the case for proper cartridge length. These rounds are short enough for the Colt, but are too fat at the case mouth, and will not fully chamber in the Colt cylinder.

      My temptation is one of the Pedersoli Colt Lightning carbines in 44-40.

  5. I had a NEw Model Blackhawk in .357mag. Once I got a DA revolver, I hardly used the Ruger so off it went to the shop for sale (stupid, stupid, stupid). I got a Beretta 92FS for it and some cash.

    The Blackhawk was tough as nails, 6-1/2″ barrel. it shot ok just didn’t use it. My wife has a Single Six that I can use when I’m feeling like John Wayne. I should have kept the Blackhawk and had it rechambered to shoot 44special

    JQ

  6. These Uberti/Cimarrons can have the cylinders changed out to shoot 44 Special too. I have 2 cylinders for mine.

    Their biggest weakness is that the barrels are .429, whereas real Colts were .427-.428. So Uberti took a shortcut with barrels that could be used for both.

    On the other hand, makes it pretty versatile.

    I like 44/40 because it is a necked case, a bit fiddlier to load (but not hard) but what happens is that it keeps all the soot and crap in the barrel, whereas straight cases like the 45LC, or (whisper it) the 38 cal plinkers and gamers in Cowboy, allow crap to blow back.

    I really don’t have to strip the action on my 66 yellow boy, or the 73 more than once a year to clean inside (obviously have to do the barrel properly every shoot, BP is corrosive and will make a mess of the bores if you leave it). I also like the pitting and soot that builds up on the outside tarnishing the yellow, but then I am a bit of a sad loser! 🙂

  7. I bought a 5 1/2 inch Uberti El Patron Competition in .357 in June and it is a very sweet gun. Well balanced and has a great trigger.
    It doesn’t have hammer block as such, or a transfer bar, it has what Uberti calls a floating firing pin which retains the look of an original hammer but allows you to carry 6 safely if you want.

    1. Vaqueros are pretty but to my mind the are a bit bulky. It could be that the pair I have (yes have 3 pairs of cowboy guns – I could stop any time) are old vaqueros (for 44/40) and they are a bit bigger, so probably blackhawk sized frames. Sadly Ruger havent made a new Vaquero in 44/40 so I cant compare directly. (my 3rd brace of cowboy guns are Schofields, in you guessed it, 44/40).

      I like the click, click, click click of a colt or colt clone. Feels very real.

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